See that little person on the left?  That is my little sister.  That girl started running when she was about 12 and never looked back.  My little sister is a running maniac or a cross-country runner or a OH-MY-GOSH-I-DIDN'T-RUN-TODAY weirdo, not because she obsesses over her figure, but because she loves it.

I don't get it.

She seems to think it 'feels good' and 'releases stress', but I am skeptical.  She seems red and sweaty...and please forgive my frankness, but it does not smell good.  Clearly I am not a fan.

The very first running meet that I ever showed up as her cheerleader, I started to read a book in the sidelines and missed the whole race, THE WHOLE RACE!!  Apparently when your sister tells you she is going to warm up, it means she is about to go run, not that her temperature is cold.  This may seem a little dumb, but I have never ever participated in a sport.  You tell me to warm up, and I put on a coat.

Well, last year, we participated in this race called the color run.  For one month, we trained.  We prepared extensively by reading running fan fiction and watching videos of runners on the television.  Many a rocky theme song was played.  My older sister, and I held hands as we gasped for air.  We had finally reached the culmination of our athletic abilities.  We could run for five minutes.  We were ready.

 Clearly we weren't ready.  I bet you were expecting some miraculous journey of self-discovery.  No.  This does not end well.  We had a blast, but a race that was supposed to take about thirty minutes took us about three hours.  Little sister made several visits to the finish line and back to where we were, knee deep in mud.  That's my excuse for going slow, and I'm sticking to it.  Let's just put it this way, we finished the race clean of paint.  By the time we passed the paint terminals, they had long since abandoned their posts.  Luckily there was a giant mosh pit of paint going on at the end of the race.  Epic.  

Also they gave me a free banana for my involvement in the race.  I took that as my medal.  They don't give those to just anyone...

So, here we are today, as I lay here on my bed with bagels wondering how many more years I will be able to get away with my sedentary lifestyle before I begin to pay the consequences.  This has brought me to my next possible conclusion.  I am doing P90x.  For those of you who do not know me, I have started this program twice.  The first time, I was sure I had torn SOMETHING....and if my whole body hadn't been throbbing as I crawled my way to the kitchen, I could have maybe identified the source of the pain...oh yeah, it was EVERYWHERE.  Apparently this 'soreness' happens when you exercise.  The second time, I reached all the way to the end of the first month, but life and traveling derailed my motivation.

My goal in putting this online is accountability.  Perhaps maybe this time it will stick if I remind myself that there are people out there who will boo at me if I go do not stick to the program (please don't...I'm a crier).  

My fitness goal is simple:  be able to run for thirty minutes, at my pace.  Who knows...maybe, at the end, I can be bold enough to post some 'after' pictures, but physical transformation is not my primary goal.  I never aimed to actually look like rocky.  I hope I can do this.  I am open to any tips anyone can give me.

 When in doubt, this will be my motivation.